Letter to the Editor: The insurance companies need customers

We have three players in the health care problem: the patient, the care providers and the bill-payer (us, the state, and the insurance companies). We keep shoving this little ball around, trying to figure out the best combination of who pays how much. Remember, it’s your money and it’s important to you that you pay your fair share whether you are paying the insurance company directly or indirectly, through tax money paying a subsidy for you or paying for health care at point of delivery. You also have the right to accumulate a special fund under special terms to accommodate current high prices. It’s confusing. Let’s try some common sense.

First of all, the little old ladies I know are not about to pay $13,000 for a yearly health insurance policy (not including co-pays and other expenses). We have forgotten the one vulnerability of insurance companies: they must have customers. There are other things they can insure – cars, houses, horses, etc. They can spend lot of money on ads, but if the price they set on the risk they are insuring doesn’tt seem reasonable to us (the patients), they will be out of the insurance business. That may not be such a bad idea. Think about it.

If you could go to any health facility and you don’t like the one where you are now, all you would need to do is leave. If we all maintained our demands, we would get top quality service and affordable prices. The health care providers would be happy to negotiate and compete for our business.

Who can you appoint to look after your health care? Someone who has access to legal and medical material if research is necessary, and someone you can fire. Your congressional representative or senator. Think about it.

Of course we will need to clean up corruption and incompetence in the federal government. This is fast becoming a necessity. Shifting responsibility to the state is a cop-out. Of course the federal block grants to the states will shrink. They always do.